Our final league outing was a nice easy one to finish the season with - an away match against Churchdown! Bereft of players due to injury and illness we drafted in three players from the LRFC Sharks. Rules permitting that underage players can play up a year provided they are signed for the same club. Step forward Seth, Jack and Daniel.
We lined up in a 4-5-1 formation with an expectation that it would be difficult for the striker. In reality it was more like a 4-6-0. The full backs were Dan G and Sam with George and Lewis central. In front of them the centre trio were Freddie, Luca and Tom. Width was supplied by Louis on the left and, in his debut, Seth on the right. Up front Jorge. On the bench were Ben,who actually ran the line for the first half, Dan and Jack.
The game started as expected with Churchdown dominating possession. Penned into our own half they were restricted to long shots, one of these would fly in after about 7 minutes to put them 1-0 up. The pattern of play continued with Churchdown 2-0 very quickly. Then we settled a bit and started to push into their half. As we pressed a little there were spaces at the back with indecision costing us two further goals. 4-0 down. there was time for a goal to be disallowed for off-side after some comical interactions between the ref and Ben on the line. With around 20 minutes played we substituted Jorge for Daniel and then a few minutes later Jack came on for Freddie who had put in a tremendous effort against a very strong midfield. Alongside Freddie centrally were Luca busy as ever and Tom who was linking well with Seth on the right but struggling to release the ball when under inevitable pressure. We created a half chance towards the end of the half with Dan linking with Seth and Tom only to get the ball stuck under his feet and unable to get his shot away properly.
The first half finished 4-0.
Second half we played better, much better. Jack in midfield was starting to get on the ball more. Doing the simple things really well, breaking up play and passing the ball on. As his confidence grew he was challenging in the air and also got on the end of a corner putting his header goal bound only for the keeper to catch it. He would run out of steam towards the end of the match but this was an MotM performance. Playing the best team in the U14 division he was not intimidated and put himself about to good effect, he did look out of place mixing it with that company. We also pushed Luca further forward to add some pace to the attack. Ben came on in midfield for Tom, Sam made way for Freddie at right back. After 10 minutes Jorge came back on up front with Dan pushing wide right and Seth coming off. We created chances but just couldn't apply the finishing touch. As Churchdown made multiple substitutions the second half was more even although in reality was long since over as a contest. Jorge came close with a header and shot, Sam saw his shot saved.
Just as we were thinking we might draw the second half 0-0 Churchdown scored. This shortly after hitting the cross bar. Following good work down their right their midfielder bearing down on goal finished powerfully over Will's dive. That was it 5-0 game over.
It would have been nice to have got a goal, we did create chances that we just couldn't take. This has been, to a certain extent, our story this season. It did seem that had we had the temerity to score a goal Churchdown would have probably scored a couple more.
Well done to all the lads today on what was never going to be an easy match. Dan G caught the eye at the back doing well under pressure, the George and Lewis partnership continues to develop and in midfield we have good technical players. What we need to do is take some of the defensive attributes that we have developed and turn that into support for the attacking players. Playing the striker today was not an easy position.
Thanks to the Sharks boys for playing for us today. They all played incredibly well and with real confidence. they did not look out of place and were not over awed or intimidated by the game.
If a Cougar and Shark had a fight? Not a chance - they're great mates, they'd probably share a bag of chips and a coke and talk about girls...